Looking at some pictures of the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France on the World Wide Web, I come upon one of Cordes-sur-Ciel. I think it is a mistake at first, for it looks very like Motovun. Everything is fine, I realize a moment later, but the two hilltowns indeed look quite alike. According to the accompanying text, the name derives from corte, meaning “rocky heights,” while the sur ciel or “in the sky” part was added only a couple of decades ago to advertise the fact that its higgledy-piggledy buildings often poke above the clouds of the surrounding river valley. It was built in the early Thirteenth Century to protect the scattered population in the area from conflict. Apparently, several such fortified hilltowns were built in the period to shelter people displaced by war. It all sounds not unlike Istria, where similar towns sprung up a few centuries earlier. At any rate, the picture entices nostalgia of sorts. For all its faults, and there are many, Motovun is a joy to behold. Just like Cordes-sur-Ciel, it is perched high in the sky. Ah, nostalgia is biting hard already!